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Greater Ethiopia: The Evolution of a Multiethnic Society

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Donald N. Levine's classic work on the social evolution and integration of the many ethnic groups that make up Ethiopia has been a must reading for all sociologists and those concrned with economic and social development in Africa and elsewhere since the book was first publilshed by the University of Chicago almost 25 years ago. The author has now (year 2000) updated his work with the addition of a new and comprehensive introduction that incorporates recent developments that have occured in Ethiopian society and culture since the book was published. The book has just been translated into Ethiopia's official language, Amharic, testifying to the importance and relevance of the work, in spite of the major transformation, including a revolution, that the country has gone through. The book provides new perspectives and fresh analyses on multi-ethnic societies, and is highly recommended to all who wish to understand the interplay among sub-groups, whether ethnic or otherwise, in today's conflict-ridden societies of Africa, Asia and even central Europe.

This book is one of those classics that never stays on the bookshelf for long. It should be required reading for all those interested in sociology or development studies in Ethiopia. The model describing the evolution of Ethiopian society presented by Levine has withstood the test of time, and is indeed proving more and more useful as time goes by.

The great contribution of Professor Levine's book, as I see it, is its very broad picture of the history and ethnography of the various people who inhabit what he terms Greater Ethiopia. This would includes, at least, the current countries of Ethiopia and Eritrea. He manages to give an extremely valuable accounting of both the ethnographic (anthropological) and the historical scholarship -- two worlds that are not customarily combined.

By and large, he sees two contrasting cultures: a) that of the Amhara (and associated Tigreans), and b) that of the Oromo, also known as Galla. The ancient civilization of the Amhara is Christian and Jewish, while the culture of the Oromo is, traditionally, African pagan, although today the Oromo have largely adopted Christianity and Islam. In Levine's view, it is the synthesis of Amhara and Oromo, under emperors who trace their origins to King Solomon, that makes for the unique social system that he calls Greater Ethiopia. The key to the self-understanding of the people who embrace this synthesis, according to Levine, is the fourteenth century Tigrean literary work "Kibre Negest" ("Glory of Kings," sometimes transliterated as 'Kebra Nagast').

Levine's work is now more than thirty years old, so we would not expect it to cover all of the latest scholarship. The second edition of 2000 has a new introduction and additions to the bibliography, but is otherwise unchanged. One of the virtues of these additions, however, is that Levine explicitly mentions the fact that "three important studies have transformed our understanding of the Beta Israel (Falasha)," i.e. the Ethiopian Jews. Here he lists the works of Steven Kaplan, Jim Quirin, and Kay Kaufman Shelemay.

In addition to the history and ethnography in this work, there is also an attempt to apply the theories of Max Weber, Talcott Parsons, S. N. Eisenstadt, and other "grand theorists" of sociology. Being more empirically minded, I do not find this kind of theory very helpful in the present context. This may very well be my own shortcoming rather than that of the author. In any case, no amount of "grand theory" can substantially diminish the value of this book for anyone looking for empirical description. All around: an astounding feat of scholarship.